Well if you're looking for the existences of a control you must have a container class of some sort. So from inside the container class or form you can reference controls by name as follows:

THIS - being the container or form

IF VARTYPE(THIS.txtName)="O"
  THIS.txtName.Value = "William"
ELSE
  MESSAGEBOX("Control txtName does not exist!")
ENDIF

>I guess it never escaped me because I never heard of PEMstatus. Reminds me of the Pemigewasset river up here in NH country. Anyway, still having trouble becasue if a control doesn't even exist, I cannot even refer to it.
>Or am I not comprehending correctly.
>
>
>>>It escapes me the syntax for checking for the existence of a control like a commandbutton. If...............?
>>>
>>>-TB
>>
>>How about
>>
>>IF VARTYPE(THIS.oControlName)="O"
>>
>>or
>>
>>IF TYPE("THIS.oControlName")="O"
>>
>>or
>>
>>IF PEMSTATUS(THIS,"oControlName",5)